Page 32 - SB-Rules are your Friends

Summary of “Rules”
A common problem for most children and many adults is their inability to evaluate if a rule is the result of Good or Stinky thinking.
It is a reality that we often have to obey Stinky Thinking rules. But if you use this “evaluation process,” you will realize that most rules are the result of Good Thinking and our reluctance to obey them is the result of our own Stinky Thinking.
Evaluating rules is the Exercise portion of the story. You may want to consider making large illustrations of the five steps in evaluating rules and posting them in you setting. When there is reluctance to obey a rule, have them go through the process of;
1. Define, 2. Purpose, 3. Thinking (basis of the rule), 4. Thinking (basis of reluctance), 5. Consequences.
If you are in a school setting, there may be the expectation that
the students should obey every rule and have punitive consequences if they don’t. One of the many changes in expectations in our adult/ child interactions in the Coping Skills program is that you will use more positive reinforcement and less punishment as the medium of change. By using a reinforcement system, verbal praise, tokens and class rewards for rule compliance, you can increase the likelihood that there will be compliance.
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